MATCH INFO

Next week’s clash with Canada key – Baeyens

Middle blocker Simon Van de Voorde was one of the best Belgian players, scoring 15 points

Antwerp, Belgium, June 8, 2014 – Belgium coach Dominique Baeyens pointed to next week’s return matches against Canada in Vancouver as critical to his team’s Pool C chances after they beat Canada at home 3-1 (33-31, 25-12, 21-25, 25-23) on Sunday.

Belgian coach Dominique Baeyens: We were very good in reception, we could put pressure with our first tempo, so that there was not so much pressure on our opposite. We had some other options on our block and that worked very well. We won, but in fact it was in each set – except in the second one – a question of one or two actions to make the difference. That we won, is important. So we know next week that we are still in the position to win this pool. We have already a big difference with Australia and Finland, so next week can be important in Vancouver to know how far we can go in this FIVB World League.

Middle blocker Simon Van de Voorde (together with Van den Dries and Deroo, Van de Voorde was one of the best Belgian players, scoring 15 points): I have to thank setter Frank Depestele for giving such good passes to the middle blockers as me and Pieter Verhees. I hope that we can win some points in Canada so that this tournament will stay important for the next few weeks. I was really surprised by the help of our supporters. This was publicity for our sport.

Canada coach Glenn Hoag: It was a pity we didn’t win the first set, even if we had three occasions to do so. We were not so good in offence today and their opponent was excellent. I didn’t start with Gavin Schmitt while he is recovering from an ankle operation and I wanted to give him some rest. I think my team was a bit tired today and they took some bad decisions while they were not so fresh anymore by the high temperature.

Canada captain Frederic Winters: Our block was not good enough today, so we couldn’t give what we wanted. We had to work hard on the gym and the Belgians support it better than we did. Of course, the Belgians have a good team. That was not a surprise. They have top players in different top competitions in Europe. They are the leader in this group, but we have to win the next two games in Canada, even if we never played before in the hall of Vancouver. I can only hope that our supporters are as good as the Belgian spectators were for their team.

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